The Wayback Machine - https://web.archive.org/all/20041009162306/http://www.bruceclay.com:80/web_pt.htm
bruceclay.com - Website Promotion Tactics and Tools
search engine promotion, Ads, Links, Newsletters

Search Engine Promotion Tactics

This page contains a list of procedures, tools, products, links, and notes on each that will help you create a broad marketing-focused website marketing program. We have emphasized search engine promotion and search engine optimization throughout our website, and this page covers other promotion programs in some detail. As the web evolves, this page will be updated with new online promotion techniques, tools, and links to make your life easier. Visit bruceclay.com often to pick up new thoughts, and to reinforce what you have already learned about search engine promotion. Read on for information that also covers how-to steps for Top-10 keyword advice, search engine marketing, plus website design, submission, keywords tools, links, email, awards, press releases, and newsletters.

Search Engine Promotion Checklist:

What do you have to sell?

See "Search Engine Marketing Strategies" for a discussion of the product planning considerations (some of you may have just finished that page). There are no specific tools to aid in this area other than knowledgeable personnel and consultants.

Let us assume that you have already determined what you are selling.

Who already needs what you have to sell?

You should have a pretty good idea about what the potential users of your product want and need, and how "on target" your product promotion is to this need. There are some GREAT sites that discuss "Solution Selling" techniques. These techniques focus on hooking prospect pain issues, so that you can grab and retain their attention. Once you have their attention, if you have built a product and find that it does not meet all of the needs, or enough of the needs, of your market when compared to your competition, then you must seriously review your product promotion strategy. Search engine promotion cannot make up for a market-product mismatch.

Additionally, it is important to consider the features of your competition in performing this review. You want to be "first among equals" in all areas, if not distinctly first in most. Be equivalent then better, not just different. If the consumer feels that they have a good solution with a competitor, tell them you are the same before you tell them that you are better. If you cannot match their current "solution vision" then you cannot upgrade their vision to be your solution. Your promotion materials need to adapt for this conversion to your solution.

What will they pay for what you have to sell?

If you have any competition, now is the time to absolutely know what they do to sell their products on the Web, and at what price. There are several steps:
  1. Study the latest demographics by visiting Jupiter Research for information about Web usage patterns. These reports are certainly interesting, and provide audience demographics that might be essential to pricing decisions.
  2. If you offer a product (rather than a service), start with generic keyword searches by visiting the search engines and searching for products in your category. If you follow the link to the product description page you find the statistics and description for the products in your keyword groups. Make a note of the company name so that you can visit their websites later. This only finds web products available from this dominant site, and may miss some products available through company web pages or Malls. Specific steps:
    1. Use your favorite search engine (try the major engines (click on the engine name)) and look for your keywords. This is a little more tedious since you may get articles in the list. Identify products that are not already on your list (these may not be available for demo, but they are probably available for sale).
    2. Repeat this process at the major Internet Mall sites. Even eBay would be good.
    3. Repeat this process at the ZDNET site.
    4. You may visit the above sites directly while you have their links available in the search results, or enter the names from your list, but you must visit each website on your list.
  4. Their Web pages should also have a Products page with a description of their products, and an Order Page with detailed pricing information. All of this information is necessary for you to complete a features and pricing comparison chart. If you have any concerns that they might be serious competition for you, then download and evaluate the trial copies of these products. Know thy competition.
  5. Perform a review of all product features, pricing and value.
  6. Try to consider yourself in the role of VP of Marketing for your competition. What is their search engine promotion, channel focus, and sales strategy? Who do they consider their competition and why? Consider that your competition may have brand name recognition, and thus can command a higher price for their product. If you know and understand your competition's strategy, you may survive.
  7. If the competition sells their product in a retail channel, they may not be able to compete on a price-point basis. Use this to your advantage.

Develop A Website Using These Principles:

  1. There are obviously "things" that a Web architect must know. Much of this is contained in this site and many others linked to this site below. You still need to have a minds-eye image of what is possible before you spend too much money doing it. We recommend that for optimal search engine promotion that you start by reviewing this site once, then on the second pass spend more time on the Web by "surfing" my links, and those linked from our links.
  2. Write the text and "storyboard" your site much like creating a good product specification. Use a word processor to lay-out all of your pages. Make sure that the flow is simple for the novice Internet user. Try to keep the body content each Web page to one to two 8½ x 11 sheets of paper, or if heavy information, minimize graphics and limit the size to no more than six pages. Focus on making the message clear. Creativity, and how quickly the page loads, is more important than the use of extra artwork for the sake of "cute". And when this is done, call a Marketing Consultant first, definitely before you call a web page designer. Message and Promotion sell on the web. For artwork, we recommend JupiterImages.
  3. It is important to consider some aspects of eCommerce: web-based commerce with a human touch is very effective in most cases, especially with 60% to 70% of all shopping carts being abandoned. Do not design around human contact if it increases the ability to sell your products. Factor it into your design. While this may be against the Amazon.com hands-off model, some firms like FaceTime Communications are integrating AOL Instant Messager with their website eCommerce applications to answer last minute questions. Reports are that buy decisions increase six-fold if questions are answered. Customer Service is evolving, and it is alive and well on the web.

  5. Double check the site architectural concepts.
  6. For all sites that you identify, go to their website and visit their home page. Choose the browser option to view their Home Page HTML source (this might be a complex process). Scan these sites for search engine promotion keywords and terms to make sure that your list is as complete. The steps needed to determine what may work best for your site are on our Search Engine Optimization Tools page. Do This Now!
  7. Marketing is everything. It brings potential buyers to your door. But proper design is vital, because without effective design the buyers who see your home page will leave before it finishes loading. The average home page loads in 48 seconds at 28.8, and the average visitor stays at a home page for 35 seconds, obviously many leave before the page finishes loading. We can learn from this.
  8. Create/Design the site by taking content and art, mixing it with navigation and style, testing it on family and friends, and always listen to comments, grunts, pregnant pauses, and blank stares. Specific advice on development of a page is at our Quality Site Criteria page and we suggest that you visit it now, before you code your first Web page! Try not to copy a page layout from another site. Use your own words, ideas, and artwork whenever possible, making sure that the message in the image matches your text. Make sure that the visitor knows what you are saying/selling at all times.
  9. Carefully consider the use of database tools, visual tools, and java tools. These are areas receiving a lot of interest, and technology work, and they might be right for your site. Carefully consider your options since some could adversely affect search engine promotion.
  10. Use the smallest graphics that you can to relay your message. It is estimated that 20% of all Web users surf the Web without graphics enabled! But always have graphics if it helps sell your product. Don't add graphics just to be neat -- an animated mail box is really not something to add to a commercial site.
  11. Follow these rules (mandatory for Free Site Listings):
    1. Make sure the site is rated for Family Viewing (keep it clean)
    2. Be courteous to other authors at all times -- respect their copyrights, trademarks, and intellectual property.
    3. Make sure the site is NOT a multi-level marketing site, a network marketing site, or a get rich quick site (although some MLM sites can get into the free lists if they are not moderated).
    4. Make sure the site is NOT graphically overburdened. Minimize the use of CAPITAL letters, large fonts, and extensive graphics, especially animation.
    5. Make sure the site Home Page loads quickly and informs the visitor what you have to offer them right up front. If using sounds, use MIDI files whenever possible instead or WAV files, and default to off unless sounds are short. Be careful, some browsers crash with sound enabled.
    6. If you entice visitors with a FREE OFFER or CONTEST, make sure you explain how to obtain the gift or prize in an obvious manner. (FREE is good, but contests usually don't work and there may be legal problems).
    7. Always choose to communicate information rather than to display wiz-bang nifty technical skills. These gadgets are a no-no to many free sites even if mandatory for some award sites. Animation, although exciting to see sometimes, is a real distraction on most pages and actually decreases sales. Avoid it unless there is a purpose.
    8. If you are going to be selling a service or product, take the time to establish a merchant account and accept credit cards. The good news is that this is easily implemented with or without a store. The bad news is that it takes effort to set it up. It is strongly suggested that you visit our page on e-commerce considerations and follow those instructions carefully!
    9. Consider a page of Testimonials. We find that it helps with prospects, award applications, and maybe even with free site reviewers.
  13. You must visit a few sites to appreciate the range of artistic contribution a website can make. Browse your competition. Look at Award Sites (discussed later)
  14. You must visit NetMechanic and get a FREE site Tune-up! This is not an optional step! If you alter your content on a regular basis and you think you are going to be active on the Web for a long time, we suggest that you subscribe to this service.
  15. Invite critiques. This is most easily done by joining a critique site such as coder.com.

"Clay's site exemplifies the perceived trust, reliability and credibility that result from giving away free expert advice on the Web. At first glance unprepossessing and text heavy, this site nonetheless offers comprehensive, stellar information on effective website design, promotion and search engine registration. Clay's site is a must-visit for Internet marketers, for both the quality of its information and its modeling of what works on the Web." - Larry Chase, Web Digest for Marketers
 

How to obtain a domain name and website host (ISSP)

Like it or not, this step in search engine promotion needs an Internet Server Solutions Provider (ISSP) and Internic registration. [An ISP usually does email and connections versus an ISSP that offers full-service site hosting.] As an agent, most consultants can get this process arranged in minutes. To see if your desired domain name is available, click here. It is VITAL that you obtain a domain name. If you ever need to change ISSP's, the process of changing registrations with hundreds of directories and search engines is more than a career! And since search engines may register each page in your site, the number of entries increases times the number of pages you have. We strongly suggest that you get a domain name NOW!

As the owner of the site, you can certainly shop for price and features, but at an average monthly cost of under $25 per month, what counts is ONLY how clean the site is (no spam penalties), reliability, speed, and core support services. In well over 99 percent of all cases, the owner of the website has never visited their ISSP. Why? Because it isn't cost effective to do that. The ISSP can be anywhere in the world and provide suitable services. And if you don't like the ISSP, change! Our site offers free debugging of your cgi-bin scripts in private cgi-bin libraries as well as unlimited email aliasing and autoresponders.

Now would be a great time to order new stationary and business cards with this updated information. Revise your FAX cover sheet, and perhaps your phone messages once the site is live.

Search Engine Promotion Through Search Engines, Links, and Awards

"Every day over 340 million web users rely on
search engines to locate new businesses" -- Financial Times

Before submission you must have prepared your site for search engine promotion. If your site is not prepared for top ranking then a submission service can only give you many, many poor rankings. After revisiting our Search Engine Optimization Tools page (you absolutely MUST visit this page!), you are ready for your initial placements.

There are many Web businesses offering to list your site with search engines or directories for FREE for a few sites, and for a small fee for other sites. The key is that over time, the categories change, the registration format changes, and there is a great difference between being submitted and being registered. At present, there is a 25% mortality rate for search engine sites every few months, and those that survive do so by upgrading categories and registration formats.

search engine promotion requires some homework. Before making this commitment, make a written note with the below information:

  1. Your Web address (URL) in the form of "http://www.yoursite.com/"
  2. Your email address in the form of "yourname@yoursite.com"
  3. The title of your Home Page in the form of "yoursite -products for {need}"
  4. A 40 character product description
  5. A ten to twelve word site description (your site <TITLE> probably)
  6. A twenty-five word site description
  7. A forty word site description (keep in your paste buffer). Consider using this text at the top of the displayed area on your home page.
  8. A list of sixteen to twenty words best describing criteria that a prospective visitor would use in a search engine to find your site
  9. A complete list of keywords (up to 1000 characters) sequenced with the most important first (possibly from your HTML Keywords line)
  10. A one paragraph description of your product(s)
  11. Send $10 to the address at the bottom of this page [just kidding - wanted to see if you are still awake].
  12. Of course, address, phone number, fax number, and webmaster name.

Important: Before placing your site you need to visit our Search Engine Optimization Tools page to make sure that your keywords are optimal.

The sequence is to mass register your site with "bulk" registration tools, then submit the major sites by hand. In fact, this is mandatory for a solid search engine promotion strategy.

If you intend to do your own search engine promotion, then you MUST see our special tool offerings. It is difficult to analyze, let alone understand, the usage of words on a web page. It is hard to generate effective pages that route traffic to your site. And it is at times overwhelming to analyze the overall rankings of your site even with the best position monitors. Isn't it worth an average of $15 per month to have access to tools that make these tasks easier and more effective? Visit our Free tool sampler page to see what we mean.

There is no indication that your search engine promotion effort is hurt by frequent submissions, but too often may still be considered spam. Submit using them all, but one at a time and one per week. Additionally, some of the larger engines are said to be ignoring add requests from "mass submission" sites, although this is not well documented nor confirmed. In fact, this seems to be improbable based upon the data being submitted, but it is possible that the IP address of the submission site is being filtered instead of some item in the data.

As a result, use the below Major SE URL Add page for the major engines as needed (not more often than once per week), and when using ALL others do not resubmit to the major engines from these other submission tools.

It has been said that 90% of all of your Search Engine visitors originate at one of these major engines. If this is true, then your time is best spent on doing hand registration with these major engines and then only doing the other sites when you have free time.

The prescribed sequence for adding your site is this:

  1. Major SE URL Add page (do this weekly for 4 weeks)
  2. Week 2 - SignPost
  3. Week 4 - AddPro Free Submission

We suggest that you pace yourself, adding only up to five URLs per day as a maximum, and not submitting more than two or three times per week. As a result, performing the above add requests as scheduled will allow you to remain within the acceptable range for most search engines.

Also note that the engines will regularly discard submissions without processing them. By resubmitting you have a higher probability of having one of your submissions "take". Also, some indexes appear to give preference to "fresh" submissions as determined by the date of last update of the page and the last submission date. So you should update your site often and resubmit at least twice per month.

More than one registration engine (use them in the order presented and definitely use them all) should always be selected and used. It is obvious that they are not identical, and their lists are quite different. In general, you are submitted to award sites, many free-for-all pages (contains thousands of free links), and the top engines. But use them first to spread the word fast, then go back and focus on the big hitters.

At this point it is unclear that you have not already reached the point of diminishing return where much more time spent is time wasted. This is where you should decide to use an inexpensive automated tool or continue with hand submission from "submit page" lists. In almost all cases it is best to browse sites like Eureka! for pages where you could hand-submit your site.

After placing your site, use the SEOToolSet to see how well you have done. This handy set of tools will use your search criteria to determine your position in search responses. Since some search engines take weeks to add your link, don't be surprised if you don't get listed for the top twelve engines. We would use this on a regular basis to make sure things haven't changed while you weren't looking.

Please review our pages on Pay per Click (PPC) search engines and how they contribute to this area.

[More]

An additional source of links comes from Award programs and Reviews. Such programs require the same information as the above links, they take time, many are useless and a few are great, and they are harder to find than just about anything on the Web. It may take a while to win yourself a few awards, but they are certainly available to those willing to invest the time.

Note that a link like:

http://click.hotbot.com/director.asp?id=1&target=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Ebruceclay%2Ecom%2Fweb_rank%2Ehtm&query=search+engine+optimization&rsource=LCOSWF

while it may actually cause the visitor to go to your page, does not count in the search engines as direct links, and thus you will not receive credit for having this link. Simply put: such links do not contribute to the popularity of your site. This type of link is commonly found in search engine results pages and in third-party affiliate programs.

A handy tool for checking your Reciprocal link counts is linkpopularity.com. It gives you a very quick count of your links in AltaVista, Google, and HotBot. Clicking on the counts gives you the specific links. Click here to see our link counts.

It is worth mentioning Webrings as a source of traffic. Sites are "joined" into a link that allows visitors to your site to visit similar sites. Although a webring may increase traffic via Webring visitors to your site, there is no evidence that this is significant traffic. Join carefully, since this is as much of a path away from your site as a path to your site. I recommend that you not participate unless there is evidence that this is a significant traffic source.

Announce Your Web Presence Through Public Relations

It is an art to produce and distribute press releases properly. We have selected sub-contractors to handle this sensitive matter under our direction. It usually takes me several iterations on a release before it meets our approval, so you should not accept the first thing given to you either. And there are about 1,000 internet accessed editors that can receive a copy of your release, although most will ignore it if it is other than newsworthy. The thing to remember about editors is that many are NOT online! The email machine is down the hall, away from their desk, so it is a slow and tedious process to get their attention strictly with automated services that send out a hundred releases each day. Really, hundreds each day -- check it out. If we were print editors, and we had to journey to a shared email machine, why would we find your press release special when compared to the hundreds in our queue? Tis truly an art, and please don't try this at home. Visit the Internet News Bureau for additional help. We have selected the king of Press Releases, the person who has done miracles for the largest firms in our industry, as our partner in this area. There is no way to argue with success, and this firm has more success for his brand-name clients than anyone. Of course I am describing NetPost by Eric Ward. I am pleased to refer to Eric as a colleague and absolutely encourage everybody to use his service.

For hard copy, personalize the address (always!) on a cover letter and sign it, distribute this document with a 35mm color slide suitable for printing in a magazine or newspaper, and possibly a product sample. It costs a little more, but the print rate increases significantly.

To see if you have appeared in the press, visit Newsindex.com. This site searches for your keywords (use your URL).

[More]

Advertise Your Product And Web Presence (Banners & Print Media)

A banner is designed to direct people to visit a site. For every 200 banners displayed, in the average only one person will click on the banner. It is not the role of the banner to sell your product! Never forget that. The banner is a traffic cop, usually designed only to get people diverted to your site or to establish brand-name awareness. You will fail if you try to sell with the banner! The banner has the attention of the visitor for a few seconds, so artistic quality should be low and message "hook" should be high. And the goal is still NOT to have pseudo-traffic to your site if visitors are of no benefit to you. Of course, they could tell two friends that tell two friends, etc., but if you can be targeted with your banner, please consider that an advantage. To design a comprehensive Banner search engine promotion program, visit our Web Banners page now.

One way to use banners to get people to your site is to "divert" them from a path to other sites. This is the case where a banner position for product B is for keywords associated with product A. As an example, using a search engine, type in "Ford" as your search word and see a banner on the search results for a competing car company. To check your brandnames, use Bannerstake, a site you can use to find out if your competition is using yours (or any) specific brand names as keywords on leading search engines.

It is also important to understand where Classified Advertising on the Web plays a role in your announcement process. If you visit my search engine hub and search for "FREE CLASSIFIEDS" you will get hundreds of listings. Many of these are directories of free listings, so you will only find a few that are very valuable. But the major issue is the nature of your product, and the nature of the listing. For instance, does your product really belong in a listing for Health Foods? Most Web surfers are more interested in information than saving money, so focus on information "hooks" rather than "SALE!". But FREE is always a big catcher. And never advertise a contest because it costs money to give away a product, and most visitors don't buy if they are there for the contest.

Autoresponders and Faxback services fit in here as well. If you are actively promoting your site via any press release service you should assume that some of your press releases will get printed media coverage. In cases where the reader does not have access to the Web, they may still have access to a Fax or to limited email. In these cases, it would be prudent to identify information provider services that fit this need in advance. "Sales" is, and always will be, a numbers game, meaning that having more equally-qualified prospects will always result in more sales. Don't ignore autoresponders and faxback services as valid information dispensing sources that supplement your website. The trick is to do everything you can until and unless one proves to be far superior to the rest. Many times your ISSP will have an Autoresponder for free.

Develop Strategic Relationships And Reciprocal Links

Strategic relationships take many forms. They are called partners, associates, affiliates, resellers, and more. There is often a mutual reward for the relationship, sometimes involving commissions, finders fees, referral bounties, and maybe barters. These relationships are usually quite rewarding to the participants, with the largest site developing programs worth millions of dollars per year. Most sites consider banner exchanges, or perhaps affiliate programs initially, and wait until their traffic justifies a larger program. These programs are discussed elsewhere in this page.

Perhaps today's most emphasized search engine marketing exercise is the development of links to your site from other sites. Some of these major search engines are now beginning to allow "reputation" to improve search engine promotions. Reputation is determined by counting the number and quality of other sites that link to your site, so the more links there are from other quality sites to your site, the better your ranking. Additionally, if the other site itself is well respected, then their link to your site is worth more. For instance, a link from the MicroSoft.com site is better than a link from BobsPage.com (no disrespect meant, Bob).

As a result, the second area of concentration should be to obtain links from as many top sites appropriate for your topic as possible. These sites receive a lot of traffic from various sources outside of the search engines, and as a result they can potentially direct as much traffic to the site as the average search engine.

Every time you visit a website that caters to the same market, contact that site and suggest a cross-link. An example is that visitors to Peanut Butter would be interested in Jelly, even though the products are quite different. Find non-competing sites, but that are related, and invite a cross-link relationship. One major tool to assist in this search are search engines or directories. For instance, you may feel that you are a great product in Category-A, Sub-category-1. Look for products in Category-A, Sub-category-2+ where the company has no intention of competing with a product in your segment. This is a search-intensive process followed by an email or phone intensive follow-up process. A handy tool for checking the Reciprocal link that goes to your competition is linkpopularity.com. Entering the URL of your competition gives you a very quick count of their links in AltaVista, Google, and HotBot. Clicking on the counts gives you the specific links that go to their sites. Some of these sites might also be willing to link to you if they also link to your competition. Additionally, a Consultant can certainly help in this area.

While no single reciprocal link site generates as much traffic as your largest search engine, our links collectively total more visitors than any one search engine.

Certainly the process of identifying potential link sites is non-trivial. But then once identified, you must research each site so that you can identify the individual page where you would like the link, write the text for the link as you would like it and as fits within the context of the target site, and then issue a well written professional plea for a link. This plea must be anything but a form letter. It must demonstrate a knowledge of the target site, it should state why you think you compliment their material, provide the suggested link text and URL to your site, and state that you think their site might make sense as a link from your site. On occasion there will be two or more requests needed before there is a reply from the site. The process can clearly take a lot of time and effort, and is best accomplished by personnel who know the web and how to design websites.

Join Email Discussion Groups/Forums, Ezines, And News Groups

Listen carefully - never sell your product in any way or form in a newsgroup or discussion group. You join these groups to obtain information about what the market needs, and to keep an eye out for new competition, and just slightly to sell your product. And always, if your posted message has a product name in it, respond only and directly to the person posting the question or to the list manager. Never respond without helping (the message is key), never attack, and try to only use your signature address to reference your site or products. Blatent advertising is a definite taboo violation. This is a sensitive area, but it is worth your time to join a few groups. We have found that joining newsgroups is easy (takes a matter of five minutes, but follow-up is a chore at times). Be prepared to get a lot of mail if you join a lot of groups. No, it is not as effective as search engine promotion, but some newsgroup postings do find their way into indexes and popularity counts.

To find out if your site is being discussed in discussion forums, search either Google Groups (used to be Deja News) or by visiting Dogpile and entering your search term and selecting "Usenet". Be prepared for honest feedback, both good and bad, from this community.

A Forum is basically a board where you may post questions and comments, and where others may reply. For an example of a forum, visit the Search Engine Watch Forum. If you have a topic and can find an appropriate forum, you get to demonstrate your expertise and may get visitors. Be careful, you want visitors because of what you know, not because of what you sell. Obviously you must find a forum that meets your product promotion needs for this to be a significant branding opportunity.

This is a favorite traffic tool because it reaches exceptionally targeted user communities. These readers are pre-qualified as interested in the topic, if not the specific products, that you want to offer. For search engine promotion, a great ezine resource is to use Larry Chase's Web Digest for Marketers.

Develop A Bulk Email Program? (Careful!)

According to Forrester Research, a Broadcast Email Ad is up
to 15 TIMES MORE LIKELY to Result in a Sale than a Banner Ad!

Okay, so direct mail works great in real life but the internet is different. Bulk email is hated by many and worshiped by none. The question isn't whether it will help or hurt (image isn't everything?) but why you should do it. For instance, if you wanted to offer good news about a free offer, it could be great. Mail is never junk if it solves a problem for the recipient. However, if you wanted to sell something nobody wants, it could be bad. The most significant difference between direct mail and email is that direct mail is paid for by the sender (postage) while with email the entire Web pays the price in performance, and sometimes in service provider fees. So, if you ever do bulk email, make sure that the mailing list is limited to willing subscribers that know that they are subscribers, and that your message solves their problem. Do it right, and they will tell two friends, but do it wrong and they will tell everybody!

Consider this, with email just about everybody without a filter will at least read your subject line. Make it interesting enough to a targeted audience and you could find this the most cost effective search engine promotion tool available to you. But do yourself a favor, debug your email before you send it to the masses. Too often email is sent with a bad URL and no other way to reach the sender. Bad email. Note that e-zine ads offer many of the advantages of direct email, without the risks.

Interesting enough, all it takes is one person to complain. Spam is considered illegal according to federal statute. US Code Title 47, Section 227(a)(2)(B) specifies that a computer/modem/printer meets the definition of a telephone fax machine. Then, according to Sec. 227(b)(1)(C) it is unlawful to send any unsolicited advertisement to such equipment (fax-like machines), punishable by action to recover actual monetary loss, or $500.00, whichever is greater, for EACH violation. How many $500.00 checks do you want to write? So your email had better be to a subscribed mailing list.

Legislation requires the following headers in outgoing emails:

  • This message is sent in compliance of e-mail bill: SECTION 301, Paragraph (a)(2)(C) of s. 1618
  • Sender : [full firm name and street address]
  • Phone : [full phone number]
  • E-mail : [valid email address!!!!]
  • To be removed from our mailing list, simply reply with "REMOVE" in the subject.
Even with such notices, email legality remains questionable when sent into some states (Washington comes to mind). Using a service is clearly recommended to avoid legal complications!

Even within a subscribed list, some will complain. Email is often useful in developing top-of-mind recall but that is hard to remember over a barrage of SPAMMING accusations that are apparently unavoidable, even with subscriber lists. And, if you are not careful, you could trash your credibility.

Our firm is in partnership with 1st Certified, a certified email system that looks to revolutionize the distribution of email. Keep a lookout for new announcements... to be released January 2005-ish.

Include Human Interaction

In our opinion, the lack of answers causes most shopping carts to be abandoned before the sale. If you are operating a site with an intent to sell a product, you have considered an eCommerce implementation, probably complete with a shopping cart and all of the necessary technology to support it. The least understood component of this process is what causes visitors to enter deep into a site, select products, but not buy.

It is important to consider some aspects of the sales process: web-based commerce with a human touch is very effective in most cases, especially with 60% to 70% of all shopping carts being abandoned. Do not design to avoid human contact if human contact increases the ability to sell your products. Factor it into your design. While this may be against the Amazon.com hands-off model, some firms like FaceTime Communications are integrating AOL Instant Messager with their website eCommerce applications to answer last minute questions. Reports are that six times as many visitors will buy if questions are answered. Customer Service is evolving, and it is alive and well on the web.

Measure Progress And Change Only One Thing At A Time

The measurement of results is vital to making money on the Web. This is a never-ending cycle. Any company will be looking at statistics (as misleading as they may be) because they are able to indicate relative performance. Put the measured statistics into a spreadsheet and review them daily. We suggest that (at a minimum) you report visitors (versus hits or requests) and average time spent viewing your site. If the average viewing time is less than the time to load your page then there is obviously a problem!

If you tune your program properly you will see a gradual improvement in each of the overall averages. But do not believe that you have a statistically valid sample until you have had about 10,000 Web visitors. Only then can you project future traffic, and even then it is subject to the whims of the internet and your competition.

Forecasting is like driving a car blindfolded while getting
directions from somebody looking out of the rear window.
Where you were may not be a good indication of what lies ahead.

Another issue to consider in statistics gathering is that a normal site is altered on a regular basis, so you will be measuring a moving target. For instance, you may (ought to) be regularly:

  1. Adding/Changing Content
  2. Updating Search Engines
  3. Adding reciprocal Links
  4. Posting in Newsgroups/Targeted Subscribed Email
  5. Running e-zine ads and maybe opt-in direct email ads
  6. Responding to Competition (Price/Feature/Content)
  7. Adding Media Programs (Banners, Press Releases, etc.)

Although these activities can take a serious amount of time, these are the things that are needed to assure web success. If you care to do it right, you will spend at least 15 minutes per day on these items (about 6 hours per month). This gets to be a major distraction from your core business, and it is why consultants offering search engine promotion services for a minimal rate are doing so well. This is a service that we offer on a monthly retainer.

Place This Icon On Your Website

For those who have actually followed the above methodology and process and feel that they have a site that was improved through these steps, please proudly display the image to the left by adding this META code (or the equivalent) to your page:
<CENTER><P>
<!-- BEGIN @bruceclay.com LINK CODE -->
<A HREF="http://www.bruceclay.com/" >
<IMG src="//www.seotoolset.com/images/logo-seotoolset.gif" ALT="Search engine optimization methodology implemented" BORDER=0></A>
<BR> <FONT SIZE=-2><A HREF="http://www.bruceclay.com/">http://www.bruceclay.com for search engine optimization</A></FONT><BR>
<!-- END @bruceclay.com LINK CODE -->
</P></CENTER>

Even if YOU do not require our search engine promotion services for yourself, you must know of a company or colleague that could stand to improve their site. If you have liked this site, please refer our site to others:

Your Name:
Your E-mail:
Friend E-mail:
Subject:


Proceed to Search Engine Optimization Page

Search Engine Marketing: search engine promotion & Optimization are a specialty, often requiring dedication and patience beyond that possible by an impatient website owner. But you need to learn, and here is our methodology...

When you are ready for the next section, click here.

Search Engine Marketing Information    Search Engine Relationship Chart    SEO Products and Services   
Search Engine Marketing    Search Engine Promotion    Search Engine Optimization
Search Engine Optimization Code of Ethics    SEO Standards    Spam Information    Why is SEO so hard?

SEOToolSetTM    Dynamic Site MappingTM    LinkMapsTM    PathMapsTM    Search Engine Optimization Training
PPC Overview    PPC Hidden Operating Costs    PPC Account Management Services

Server Technical Tips    Search Engine Search Hub

SEOToolSet Login - Subscribers & Free Use   

Privacy Statement    Legal/Copyright    Colleagues Employment    Directions   

About Us    Rates    Request a Quote    Signup    Contact Form    HOME

Bruce Clay, Inc.
Internet Business Consultants
Serving Clients Worldwide
207 West Los Angeles Avenue, Suite 277, Moorpark, CA 93021
Voice: 805-517-1900
Toll Free: 866-517-1900
Fax: 805-517-1919

bclay@bruceclay.comTM

We comply with and support this Code of Ethics.

Webassured.com Logo     BBBOnLine Reliability Seal     Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization Circle Member

Copyright © 1996 to 2003 Bruce Clay, Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright registered with United States Copyright Office, The Library of Congress,
Number TX 5-001-745 in accordance with title 17, United States Code.
Bruce Clay, SEOToolSet, PPCToolSet, Dynamic Site Mapping, LinkMaps, PathMaps, SEM Tribune,
Search Engine Relationship Chart, SE Traffic Vector, bclay@bruceclay.com, and SERC are our Trademarks